When a new restaurant opens in town, everyone is eager to check it out. Most often, the popularity of a new restaurant is directly connected to people’s first impression of the food, atmosphere, and service. Word of mouth may actually be the restaurant’s best form of advertisement.

If you have the opportunity, ask friends, family, and co-workers what they enjoyed eating at the restaurant you plan to go to. Most people are willing to share both their positive and negative opinions. If you don’t know anyone who has been to that restaurant, you still have a couple of other options for finding out what menu item might be best for you.

Before ordering, take some time to observe the food that is being served to people seated around you. If one item seems to be more popular than anything else, you can be rather certain that it is a delicious choice of entree. If you don’t like the idea of observing other tables, you can simply ask your server what entrees are order most frequently and which ones receive the most compliments from customers. Or, be brave and choose an entree with a description that sounds delicious and absolutely irresistible.